Trude Kersten Family Collection 1899-1989 Bulk: 1930s-1940s
Author: Kersten, Trude
Subject: Jews; Jews, German; Families; Women physicians; Jewish physicians
Language: German
Call number: 000393489
Digitizing sponsor: Leo Baeck Institute Archives
Book contributor: Leo Baeck Institute Archives
Collection: LeoBaeckInstitute; microfilm; americana; additional_collections
Full catalog record: MARCXML
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Description
Archival materials and photographs from the estate of Trude Kersten, née Brinitzer, pertaining primarily to the Brinitzer family and to a lesser degree to Trude Kerstens husband, Ewald Kersten
The Trude Kersten Family Collection documents the life of Trude Kersten and her family, starting ca. 1900, the time when her parents began their university studies. The material primarily consists of photo albums and correspondence between the several family members, who lived on various continents. In addition, the collection contains personal documents regarding their family history, family correspondence, and business papers
Series I mainly contains personal documents like family correspondence, educational documents, a diary, passports and U.S. citizenship papers of Jenny and Ewald Brinitzer
Educational papers and diplomas of Walter Brinitzer are to be found in Series II
In addition to educational papers of Trude Kersten, Series III largely holds business papers of her husband Ewald Kersten
Works of art have been removed to the LBI Art and Objects Collection
Books have been removed to the LBI Library
Jenny Brinitzer, née Kaplan, was born in Riga, today Latvia, on. July 15,1884. At the age of 14 she started to study to become a doctor. In 1901 she began to study medicine at the University of Bern, Switzerland; as a 17 year old she was one of the youngest students of the faculty of medicine. She acquired the friendship of Professor Strasser, an anatomist and physiologist] and his family, who invited her frequently to his home. This friendship continued until her departure from Bern in 1906
In April 1905 Jenny met Eugen Brinitzer at a Russian Ball. He was born in Neisse [now Nysa in Poland] on March 10th, 1879. In her memoirs she remembered their first encounter as love at first sight. Eugen Brinitzer came to Bern in order to work as an assistant in the dermatology department of the University. When Jenny Brintzer became pregnant in 1907, she withdrew from her university studies, and the couple moved to Hamburg Altona. She gave birth to her first son Carl on Jan. 30, 1907 in Riga. Eventually, she enrolled and finished her last year of medical study at the University of Berlin. In 1908 Jenny Brinitzer had to move to Switzerland and Southern France in order to cure her tuberculosis. During this period Eugen Brinitzer stayed in Hamburg to run his very successful medical practice. When she returned to Hamburg Altona she was confronted with the fact that she wasnt accepted for the state examination at the University in Berlin. In her memoirs Jenny Brinitzer vividly described how she nevertheless became established as the first female doctor in Hamburg Altona. During her studies in Kiel she gave birth to her second son Walter on Nov. 23, 1910. Finally in December 1911 she passed her exams. In the following years she gave birth to two more children. Her first and long-awaited daughter Gertrude was born on Dec. 9, 1916
In 1938 they left Germany in order to escape the Nazi regime. The couple moved to Bangalore in Southern India, where they established a practice. Jenny Brinitzer became a physician treating many leading members of British and Indian society. In 1947, after India gained independence from Great Britain, the Brinitzers decided to move to Great Neck, N.Y., to be close to their daughter Gertrude, now Trude Kersten. In Great Neck they established their third practice. In 1965 Eugen Brinitzer passed away
While their second son Walter Brinitzer established his own practice in Bangalore and followed his parents to the U.S. as well, their first son Carl Brinitzer moved to Great Britain in 1938. He, who held a doctorate in law, worked as a correspondent for the BBC during and after the war. Carl Brinitzer also published numerous books and wrote frequently for German and British newspapers, e.g. Welt am Sonntag, London Times, Daily Telegraph etc. He died on October 24th, 1974 in Sussex, England and left a widow, Vienna-born Berthe Grossbard, who became known throughout Europe as a radio singer
Before Trude Kersten moved with her husband Ewald from Germany to the U.S. in 1938 she trained to be a chicken farmer. Ewald Kersten (b. Nov. 2, 1911) held a doctor in law degree and studied in Hamburg to specialize in International Traffic Management. From 1933 until 1938 he worked in the freight shipping business, and later he became a branch manager of an international shipping company in Hamburg. In January 1940 he established the Kersten Shipping Agency in New York
Finding aid available online:
There are some books by Carl Brinitzer in the LBI Library
Selected metadata
| Identifier: | trudekerstenfamily |
| Mediatype: | texts |
| Page-progression: | lr |
| Scanningcenter: | sanfrancisco |
| Identifier-access: | http://www.archive.org/details/trudekerstenfamily |
| Identifier-ark: | ark:/13960/t6640mc02 |
| Ead-container: | true |
| Noindex: | true |
